2017/6/9: Guide has been updated for Patch 4.10, "Trials of King Hercules."

2017/4/5: Updated to Season 4, Patch 4.6, "Racer Rumble." (WTF?) About time I stopped procrastinating on this one. Builds have been revised and delivery greatly simplified. Other info updated throughout.

2016/10/26: Updated for Patch 3.20, "Cyber Sentinel." Used xZero's template for Strengths/Weaknesses (aesthetic improvement). Moved credits to the end of the guide. Self-taught crash course on what is probably the simplest of Photo editing functions, and created custom headers. Took quick videos and added GIFs for abilities. Other adjustments and aesthetic improvements.

2016/4/11: UltraSuperGenius made me finally get off my lazy butt and eradicate the horrible Runeforged Hammer from some of my builds and options. Updated info based on patch 3.6, "Escape from the Underworld." Odin's Ring of Spears says "ouch."

2016/4/6: With the help of nanoyam, some adjustments have been made to format/presentation. Minor build adjustments and revisions.

2016/03/28-30: Added Lore & References section, including a new YouTube series by Everything Goat (SF name MiseoZao, featuring info based on this guide! Also updated Sovereignty per patch 3.5, "Protect and Support."

2016/3/15: Added Hide of the Urchin to the magical protection items option in the balanced tank build. Thanks to SpectralTangent for that suggestion.

2016/2/22: Minor adjustments and corrections.

2016/2/2: Updated for Season 3! Odin has seen a great, potentially game-changing revision to his ultimate. Also, many items that were good choices for him have seen revisions, so some thought into different builds has to be considered. "Actives" -> "Relics" section revised.

With all of the item changes and new items, I'm absolutely open to hearing of anyone's ideas and possibly incorporating into or adjusting my build. Feel absolutely free to comment!!!

Hello everyone! My name is Branmuffin17 (PC IGN: Muffinman17, PS4 IGN: Branmuffin17), and I'm a SMITEFire moderator and casual SMITE player on PC and PS4. Welcome to my fourth venture outside of my original project, The Overarching Assault Guide.

Although this guide focuses on the Arena mode, it will absolutely work with almost any other non-Conquest mode. And yes, eventually, I'll get un-lazy enough to convert this into a full Conquest guide as well. Just don't hold your breath.

I'll assume you know the basic gist of Arena gameplay, so I won't be teaching or talking much about tickets, minions, etc. in this guide, except in the direct context of Odin's gameplay. If you want general Arena information, I invite you to check out my other guide:

The Overarching
Arena Guide

This is a work in progress, as it should be. I'm always open to new ideas and different approaches.

Odin is an interesting one. He's got strong early-to-mid game burst, good protections, and a low CD, zoning ultimate that can completely control a teamfight and/or secure a kill or two with each use.

-Damage falls off late game-Have to get in close to be effective-Ult is countered by Phantom

My suggestion when playing him is to be the main tank. Odin is a strong initiator, and carries the constant threat of his ult trap, so it just makes sense to beef up your protections and health. Also, anytime enemies are focusing on you, they're not focusing on your teammates! Let's get into it.

Abilities

Passive:

Path to Valhalla

Whenever any god dies on the battleground, Odin gains 8% move speed and power for 8 seconds. Can stack up to 5 times.

This is a passive that you'll never have to think about. It makes building items with power more rewarding, and also gives him more mobility to chase or get out of sticky situations when his abilities are on CD.

This ability can do some good burst damage, especially in combination with Raven Shout, but it's also your only true escape ability. Can be difficult to hit, as the jump is a bit slow. Consider your situation before using it, as the CD is moderate at best.

Long Jump In Style

Skill #2:

Raven Shout

Summon a flock of ravens that create a shield around him. When the shield expires, it explodes, dealing damage to nearby enemies based on how much health it has remaining. If the shield is at full health, it deals additional/bonus damage (15%). The shield will not expire while he is using Lunge, and will always detonate upon landing. CD 15 seconds. 60% scaling.

Max this 1st.

Defensively, it provides a strong shield that can help you weather some damage. As an offensive weapon, it turns your Lunge into a massive AOE bomb (aka the infamous "Bird Bomb"). As with Lunge, consider exactly how you are going to engage the enemy before activating.

*NOTE* Certain abilities / effects can delay the burst... Nox's Siphon Darkness, dropped where you're about to land, can stop the damage until the ability has ended, and a perfectly timed displacement ability (like the knockback from Anhur's Impale) also delays it (and makes it explode in a position you didn't plan!).

Raven Shout (Let It All Out)

Skill #3:

Gungnir's Might

Odin does a sweeping spear attack that hits twice, dealing damage and slowing all enemies around him on both hits. CD 10 seconds. 30% scaling.

Max this 3rd.

Other than your ultimate, this is your only CC ability. It has a substantial 40% slow for up to 2.8 seconds, but does relatively low damage. Use it solely for its CC ability, to keep enemies close or slow them from chasing a teammate.

Gungnir's Weak-*** Spin Attack

Ultimate:

Ring of Spears

Summons a wall of spears for 5 seconds that blocks enemy movement, while you and your teammates may move freely through. Does not block attacks. Enemies inside the ring have their attack speed lowered (20-60%), and are unable to heal. Odin is immune to slow and root effects while in his ring. He gains permanent stacks of +5 power for each enemy god that dies inside the ring (max 10 stacks). CD 75 seconds.

Max this last.

THIS is the reason you choose Odin. When your CDR is maxed, it has an extremely short ~45 second CD, which is helpful to counter enemy gods that choose the Phantom relic. Synergizes well with Blink Rune. You can walk through your spears, which greatly enhances its potential without sentencing you to death in your own trap! Forces enemy gods that don't have escapes to get Phantom or sentence themselves to a quick death.

Use on gods with no teleports/leaps.

Use on gods that have healing abilities.

Time its use AFTER seeing an enemy use their escape ability to ensure they don't escape (without additional help from Phantom Veil).

Use as a zoning tool, to prevent escape, separate the enemy team, or help a teammate escape to safety.

I strongly recommend Blink Rune as your first relic, no matter the enemy team, to help you trap as many enemies as possible in the ring at the right time. You can also use it to help zone the enemy and keep them away from you or retreating teammates.

Ability Combos

There really isn't anything that complex about Odin's kit. The standard damage combo is just Raven Shout followed by Lunge. Nonetheless, there are a few combos where timing and choice can absolutely make a difference.

Blink Combos

Blink allows you to save your one escape option ( Lunge) as a potential damage ability rather than as an initiation, and with proper timing, can surprise and trap multiple enemies at once.

From out of combat, blink to your target(s)
Ultimate; trap the enemy inside
(Damage Option) For increased damage on Lunge
General damage
(Survival Option) Use to absorb any damage taken
Use to slow any escaping enemies still alive

This is the preferred combo if you're fairly certain you can stay in the fight without dying. Your continued presence will cause havoc, and may help take focus off of any nearby teammates.

You can use this once every 120 seconds or so (Blink's CD is what you have to wait for).

General awareness is helpful. If you've isolated one god in the ring, and enemies are unlikely to do much damage to you, trigger Raven Shout immediately before you Lunge for a strong burst of damage. If you're likely to take significant amounts of damage (either from the trapped burst damage god or if multiple gods are trapped inside), use Lunge first, and then trigger Raven Shout for the shield.

You may want to use Gungnir's Might at the very end as your spears drop (6 seconds from ult initiation). This allows you to continue your CC dominance with another 2+ second slow.

From out of combat, blink to your target(s)
Ultimate; trap the enemy inside
Adds a bit of damage, enemy is slowed
(Survival Option) Protection or prelude to Lunge
(Damage Option) Burst attack before running
Get out before things get ugly

Best to use if you trap multiple gods inside, and there is a high probability they will use AOE abilities/ults to protect themselves and (potentially demolish you). Use Raven Shout if you want to stay inside for a bit and cause some general chaos. Use Gungnir's Might before you retreat (either via Lunge or by simply running through your ring), to slow enemies, making them easier for your teammates to hit.

(Damage Option) Use before you initiate with Lunge
Initiation/set-up ability
Ultimate; trap enemies inside
(Protection Option) Use to absorb any damage taken
Use to slow any escaping enemies still alive

If it doesn't look like they're going to die by the time your ult ends, use Gungnir's Might at the very end as your spears drop (6 seconds from ult initiation). This allows you to continue your CC with another 2+ second slow.

There is the possibility that you'll be able to trap one or more enemies inside the rings WITHOUT the use of Lunge, at which point you can use it for extra damage or as an escape if things get too hot inside.

Ultimate; trap the enemy inside
(Survival Option) Use to stay inside longer with minimal damage
Adds a bit of damage, enemy is slowed
Use to jump outside of the ring

This is your utility combo. Your whole focus here is to prevent the enemy from moving, hence the trap. However, you know even before using your ult that you don't plan to stick around. It's more difficult to trap the enemy, because you don't have the option of blinking or jumping in with Lunge, as you need it to escape.

Best used if you or teammates are being focused and need to retreat. If they're retreating, they won't be able to contribute damage to trapped enemies, so enemies are more likely to live, and you're more likely to die if you stay.

Items & Relics

Example Tank Build vs. Balanced Enemy Compositions

Tank Builds & Discussion:

Starting Options:

If preferred, you can start with Combat Boots + Potions, but the below options can help you to soak up some early damage. Best strategy is to stay out as long as possible to gather gold and XP, so by your first back, you should be able to complete your boots.

Mobility:

Warrior Tabi(Offensive): The standard offensive mobility option. The power will help your damage abilities.

Reinforced Greaves(Defensive): If the enemy team has a ton of CC, it might be worth losing some power to significantly lessen CC effects. The protection can help a bit too.

Early CDR / Protections (Choose One):

As a tank, protections are important. For Odin, getting early CDR is equally as important. Here are options to provide you with both. Generally, just choose one of these, whichever is the highest priority protection. Further items down the line will provide CDR as well.

Breastplate of Valor(Anti-Physical): Strong physical protection and, more importantly, 20% CDR and a large mana pool, so you can start spamming your ult and abilities immediately. Get this if physical threats are greater than the magical ones. Due to the high CDR, this should be your default choice if you're otherwise undecided.

Genji's Guard(Anti-Magical): Basically the magical variant to BoV, this item provides high magical protection, high mana regen, and a bit of health, with a special CD effect when you take magical damage. Choose if magical enemies are the larger threat.

Additional Physical Protections:

These physical protection items can be bought as needed.

Midgardian Mail(Anti-Basic Attack): The passive has a chance to slow an enemy's move and attack speeds. Best against basic attacking Assassins and Hunters, but can be used as a counter against magical gods like Freya as well. Has great synergy with Ring of Spears.

Hide of the Nemean Lion(Anti-Crit / Damage Reflect): In addition to the high protection, this item reflects 25% of basic attack damage back to the enemy. This can be a huge shock to a basic attacker building crit items, but will have less effectiveness against enemies trapped in your ult.

Void Shield(Aggressive Defense): The most offensive physical protection item available, it provides some power and protection reduction in addition to the decent protection. Has better effect the more physical gods on your team.

Magical Protections:

These magical protection items can be bought as needed.

Bulwark of Hope(Selfish Survivability): Strong protections, combined with high health, make this a great anti-magical item when you're worried about saving your own bacon. A bit high on cost and doesn't provide any team ulility, so is not my preferred magical protection item, but it CAN save your life.

Pestilence(Anti-Heal): Your ult provides most of the anti-heal you'll generally need. That said, if you're facing multiple healers, especially really annoying ones like Hercules, you can still stunt their sustain when your ult is down with this.

Talisman of Energy(Teamfight Aggression): Like the previous items, provides a good chunk of magical protection and health. If you're able to roll over enemies and win teamfights, the stacking attack speed and move speed can allow your team to continue the chase against retreating enemies.

Shogun's Kusari(Basic Attack Support): Provides some CDR and CC reduction along with the magical protection. The aura makes this an interesting item, as it provides nearby teammates with a 15% attack speed boost. Great if you've got multiple basic attackers on your team.

Balanced Protections:

These items provide balanced protections in different ways.

Spirit Robe(CDR / Damage Mitigation): This is a solid item that provides some CDR and good protections. It has strong anti-CC function, with damage mitigation kicking in when you're hit by hard CC, which means you'll shrug off a lot of damage.

Hide of the Urchin(High Survivability): This item has a recharging shield that works great if using Raven Shout as a shield often too. Provides good balanced protections along with a pool of health and mana, so remains a good, balanced protection item.

Offensive / Utility Items:

If you find that you can use more damage and are surviving well, choosing one or more of these offensive items can be of help.

Brawler's Beat Stick(Anti-Heal): Yes, you have anti-heal in your ult. However, when it's down, this gives you additional anti-heal utility, and it's quite easy to apply, thanks to abilities like Gungnir's Might. The high power and pen are particularly effective at increasing your damage to squishy gods.

Titan's Bane(Anti-Tank): If you're facing a lot of tanky gods with high protections, and your team can use some extra damage output, this will help your Bird Bomb punch through enemy protections.

Shifter's Shield(Aggressive Defense): High power when you want it, a bunch of added protections when you need it.

Masamune(Power and Mobility): An underrated bruiser item for teamfight modes. Solid power contribution, combined with increased protections the more you're surrounded by enemies. A bit of added health and movement speed round off its stats.

Mail of Renewal(Steamrolling Sustain): If you haven't maxed your CDR and find your team on the winning side of teamfights with a significantly higher rate of kills, you'll get a lot of benefit from the passive, which restores a portion of your health and mana, allowing you to stay out longer and continue to be a threat.

Example Bruiser Build

Bruiser / Damage Build (Details):

When there is another Guardian/Warrior, and they go full tank, it gives you the option to focus a bit more on damage and utility. Although the items change a bit from the tank builds, it doesn't change your main focus, which should be to get your CDR ASAP.

Key early item here is Relic Dagger. Since it doesn't provide any protections, you'll need to use your Raven Shout wisely to soak damage...but getting it 2nd puts it in line very early with the CD of Ring of Spears.

This should translate to some early kill secures for your team, helping put them ahead and get you extra gold from kills/assists to more quickly finish the rest of your build.

Starting Items:

First 2 Items:

You'll get 28% move speed, 40 power, 300 health, and 10% CDR between the two, along with the 30 second CD on Blink Rune, putting its availability at 70 seconds. You're going to be a bit squishy, so you'll want to use your Raven Shout shield strategically...but these two items are also CHEAP, allowing you to more quickly work on your next item.

Item Combos:

From this point, here are some example builds for various enemy team compositions.

Example Balanced Enemy Build:

+++

This aggressive combination is best used against balanced teams. It aims to max your CDR to help you stay active (trapping enemies for both kills and to save teammates), and provides you with good balance of protection and damage.

This slight shift from the standard "balanced" build is best used against teams with 4-5 magical gods. It aims to maximize CDR to help you stay active, has good magical protection, and good damage potential.

Using this allows you to teleport short distances instantly. You must not have taken damage for 3 seconds before it can be used. CD 100 seconds. Upgrade gives you a 10% damage reduction buff.

Essential first relic.

Initiation. Essential first item for Odin, no matter who he faces. This will allow you, with proper timing, to trap multiple enemies in your Ring of Spears. Relic Dagger is essential to help use this as much as possible.

UPGRADING THIS IS NOT ESSENTIAL. If you run out of things to spend your precious gold on, then go ahead and upgrade. Otherwise, it's not that helpful.

Purification Beads

Using this removes CC effects and makes you immune to new ones for 2 seconds. CD 160 seconds. Upgrade decreases CD to 130 seconds.

Using this makes you invulnerable to damage for 1.5 seconds, preventing you from attacking or taking actions, but allowing you to move. CD 180 seconds. Upgrade decreases CD to 150 seconds.

Second relic option.

Anti-Burst. Consider this if the enemy team has a huge amount of burst that you can anticipate (e.g. Poseidon or Scylla).

Horrific Emblem

Using this slows enemy gods within 35 units by 40% and reduces their attack speed by 25% for 5 seconds. CD 120 seconds. Upgrade decreases damage dealt by enemies by 20%.

Second relic option.

Teamfight Lockdown. This provides you with some extra CC, slowing both move and attack speed of enemies in range...thus it's great to secure kills, create separation in a retreat, and decrease basic attackers' DPS.

Magic Shell

Using this gives the owner and all allies in a 35 unit radius a 100 +15 health shield per god level for 3 seconds. CD 140 seconds. Upgrade provides all affected allies with 2 stacks of Block, absorbing the next 2 basic attacks.

Second relic option.

Team Anti-Burst. Choose this to give yourself and nearby teammates a significantly higher chance of survival, with some added benefit when facing basic attackers. Has to be used at the right time to be effective.

Shield of Thorns

Using this reflects 50% of all damage you take, before mitigations, for the next 5 seconds back to its owner as magical damage. CD 160 seconds. Upgrade increases duration to 8 seconds, and enemies can only lifesteal at 50% effectiveness.

Second relic option.

Anti-Basic Attack. This is a counter item to basic attackers that have high DPS (usually assassins and hunters). If they're not paying attention, they may find themselves dying to their own attacks.

It can also be a deterrent to getting attacked, which is why it's suggested for the squishier bruiser builds but not the full tank builds.

Gameplay & Tips

Further Discussion On Abilities

Ring of Spears

Counters&Synergies

Counter ults: Be very aware when using your Ring of Spears against specific enemies with AOE ults. The ring is like a huge visual notification for them to ult, either to protect teammates trapped inside, protect themselves when they're trapped inside, or kill you, if you're still inside. These include, but are not necessarily limited to:

For example, Hercules' ult can bounce around inside your ring, hitting enemies multiple times. Cupid can prevent trapped enemies from using leaps to escape, unless they have Purification up. Xing Tian can round up a few enemies for you, so that you can easily trap multiple enemies without the need for Blink or lucky positioning.

Defensive Ring of Spears

Your most obvious use of Ring of Spears is as an offensive weapon to secure kills for your team. However, with a maxed CDR cooldown of around 45 seconds, you'll often find yourself ready to go, while your teammates are only halfway through their own ult's CD.

Rather than just waiting, your quick CD allows you more flexibility in how you use it; Ring of Spears can be an extremely effective zoning tool to protect yourself and your teammates.

Whether you're the main tank or bruiser, you always want to maximize your awareness of the battleground. If you see one of your teammates starting to retreat, or getting focused heavily, use your ult to trap enemies and prevent them from chasing.

An extension of the zoning idea is when attacking the enemy juggernaut, or protecting your own. Remember, the juggernaut hitting a portal is worth 15 tickets (e.g. three kills)! You can use your ult to prevent the juggernaut from hitting your own portal for 5 seconds; precious time to finish him off. Or surround your own juggernaut, or put your ring to one side, to prevent the enemy from getting close enough.

Lunge & Raven Shout

Since you have 3 options for using these two skills, let's go over the basics. They may be pretty obvious, but forgetting about or not considering the drawbacks can hurt you.

Pure offense: Raven Shout, then Lunge. This deals maximum damage, especially when the Raven Shout shield is full. Leaves you without any extra protection or escape, so only use when you've got the full support of your team behind you, or to finish off a damaged enemy.

Initiation: Use Lunge to close the gap with the enemy. This leaves you without an escape for a few seconds. Luckily, Raven Shout provides a nice shield to help absorb damage.

Safe engagement: You won't be able to leap in to surprise an enemy, but if you position yourself well, you can run right up to them before attacking. If and when you start getting hit, you can activate Raven Shout to take some of that damage. Lunge is waiting in the shadows to allow you an escape if you need, or extra damage if the fight is going your way.

General Gameplay As The Main Tank

Aggressive Harrassment

From the beginning, your items, especially in conjunction with proper use of Raven Shout, will allow you to take a good beating. The full build combines high protection, boosted health, and essentially maxed CDR. Odin's kit has strong zoning and movement.

What this means for the entire match is that you can really influence team fights. Since your ult has such a low CD, the enemies (if they're thinking at all) will always consider your close proximity a high threat. Just running forward can cause enemies to back off, and if one or two of them aren't paying attention, they may find themselves separated to the point they can be picked off.

If you have a specific target (e.g. they don't have an escape ability), communicate this with your team, especially when your ult is ready. Do a quick VVVR before you ult, to help your team focus and secure kills. To be as effective as possible, though, you'll have to pay attention to their builds/items and what abilities they've used recently. If you're familiar with the enemy god, and you see that they just used their only escape, they are also a great target.

So, with any tanky build, be aggressive. You are the initiator.

General Gameplay As A Bruiser

You Go First

As a bruiser, you don't have quite the amount of survivability as you would as a tank. That's okay, though, because you still have some great initiation/escape and zoning tools.

Since I suggest picking up Relic Dagger ASAP, you can use its added movement speed to help set up traps for the enemy team...though you may want to think twice about using your damage combos at the early stages, before you build protections. Instead, I suggest one of the 3 initiations, depending on situation and preference:

With Blink on CD, Lunge in to quickly close distance, ult, then use Raven Shout as a shield as you retreat.

With Blink on CD, run in, use Raven Shout as you start taking damage, ult, then use Lunge if necessary to help escape.

As you get further into your build, you can more confidently soak some damage and use your damaging abilities more aggressively, but your main function, throughout the entire game, will be to utilize Ring of SpearsPROPERLY and as much as possible.

You'll note that the skill leveling order is a bit different than as a tank. Instead of focusing on Raven Shout first, you'll split points roughly between that and Lunge. This is so you can still deal some good damage if you use only Lunge to attack, and decide to use Raven Shout for quick protection.

Gameplay Videos

Okay, this is the first one (S2)

This is the first video I recorded playing Odin as the main (only) tank, and I hadn't even thought about making this guide at the time. Thus, build isn't fully in line with the guide, as I was experimenting.

Both sides had only 1 tank, but their side had 4 squishy physicals and 1 magical tank, while ours had a more balanced composition. I actually tried to choose Loki, but I was beaten to the punch, and had to choose a tank, otherwise there would have been none.

My final score: 5-1-21. The 1 death was because I just had to be a bastard and finish off an enemy in their own base =P

Ahhh, my first video using my standard mixed enemy tank build...though slightly out of order, due to experimentation with getting Warrior Tabi before Heartward Amulet for more early mobility.

Both sides seemed somewhat equal to start...though we had 2 potential tanks (that both went at least partial tank) and no hunter, and they had their only potential tank go for damage. That might have been their biggest mistake. Final score: 12-1-22.

This video shows a bit of everything Odin...focusing on gods without good escapes (poor Sol), using ult to try to protect teammates, and the 3 combos of Lunge and Raven Shout.

First off...holy 44,450 FP!!! What ELSE do you do besides play SMITE, GodWalter?!?

Anyway, I had a lot of fun scaring Loki, Fenrir, and He Bo. Forced Loki to ult just to get out of my ring a couple of times. This was an optimal matchup for Odin. Was also the only one on my team to have a positive K/D ratio.

Lore & References

Nevercake's SMITE Lore Ep. 62: Who is Odin?

Trendkill's Know Your Enemy Ep. 21: Odin

Smite Builder: If you haven't seen or used it before, check out this site by EliteOwnage. Similar in purpose to KrettCalc, but with an easy-to-use interface, you can theory-build to your heart's content, and set up head-to-heads to see how your build will fare against different enemies and builds.

Individual God Guides

Conclusion

So that's it! If you like what I've done and how I try to improve the guide, anyone is welcome to suggest a god for me to work on next...and of course, I have to own them and/or want to play them =P but I'll let you know...

Thanks for reading, and I appreciate any and all comments, suggestions, etc. Feel free to add me/invite me if you want to play!

SmiteFire & Smite

Smite is an online battleground between mythical gods. Players choose from a selection of gods, join session-based arena combat and use custom powers and team tactics against other players and minions. Smite is inspired by Defense of the Ancients (DotA) but instead of being above the action, the third-person camera brings you right into the combat. And, instead of clicking a map, you use WASD to move, dodge, and fight your way through the detailed graphics of SMITE's battlegrounds.